Barack Obama decries Charlie Kirk’s ‘horrific’ murder as nation hits ‘inflection point’: ‘Threat to all of us’
Former President Barack Obama insists the nation is at an “inflection point” following Charlie Kirk’s assassination as the Democrat in his first public remarks on the shooting called the conservative commentator’s violent death a “tragedy” regardless of his views.
“Even if you think they’re quote unquote on the other side of the argument, that’s a threat to all of us and we have to be clear and forthright and condemn it,” Obama said during the Jefferson Educational Society’s global summit Tuesday night.
The 44th president said he believes the country is facing a precipitous rise in political violence – and accused President Trump and members of his administration of fueling some of the sharp political divisions.
“But I’ll say this — those extreme views were not in my White House. I wasn’t empowering them. I wasn’t putting the weight of the United States government behind them,” he claimed, according to the Erie Times-News.
“When we have the weight of the United States government behind extremist views, we’ve got a problem.
“And so your original question was, ‘are we at an inflection point?’ We’re at an inflection point in the sense that we always have to fight for our democracy and we have to fight for those values that have made this country the envy of the world,” Obama said, answering an audience member.
Obama, 64, argued that his administration and other Republicans who held the Oval Office or ran against him – like former President George Bush, and GOP presidential candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney — were more focused on bringing the country together than Trump.
“When I hear not just our current president, but his aides, who have a history of calling political opponents vermin, enemies, who need to be ‘targeted,’ that speaks to a broader problem that we have right now and something that we’re going to have to grapple with, all of us,” he said inside the Erie Insurance Arena.
Kirk was shot and killed last week at Utah Valley University, leaving behind a wife and two young children. The 31-year-old was on a speaking tour, in which he debates students on college campuses, when a bullet fatally struck his neck.
His alleged killer, Tyler Robinson, was nabbed more than 30 hours after the shooting and was charged with aggravated murder.
The 22-year-old suspect allegedly said in text messages to his transgender lover following the shooting that he “had enough of his hatred,” in reference to Kirk, according to authorities.
Obama urged the public to “extend grace” to those mourning the shocking act of violence as many people have been lambasted —some even fired from their jobs — for cheering Kirk’s demise.
Stay up to date on the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk
- Tyler Robinson admitted Charlie Kirk murder in text exchange with boyfriend— can his lover be charged with a crime?
- See the last video Charlie Kirk made before his assassination
- Pope Leo XIV told US ambassador he is praying for Charlie Kirk, his family after assassination
- Trump claims Biden admin weaponized DOJ to target Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA to put movement ‘out of business’
“I didn’t know Charlie Kirk,” Obama said. “I was generally aware of some of his ideas. I think those ideas were wrong, but that doesn’t negate the fact that what happened was a tragedy.
“I mourn for him and his family. He was a young man with two small children and a wife, who obviously had a huge number of friends and supporters who cared about him.”
The first public statements from Obama on Tuesday came after he tweeted last week in the aftermath of the slaying.
